Formulary

FORMULARY ========= for PSION System 5 Author: (C) Peter von Walter email: vwalter@physi.uni-heidelberg.de www: http://pi.physi.uni-heidelberg.de/~vwalter/my/Homepage.html What is FORMULARY? ------------------ FORMULARY is a very powerful and flexible SYMBOL CALCULATOR. It can be seen as a general UNIT CONVERTER, it handles dynamic TABLES and FORMULAS and it generates PLOTS and STATISTICS. Therefore, you not only calculate with ordinary numbers but also with any symbols, like: 3 inch 10 N m/s2 1h + 30min ... ALL symbols (units) are defined in a text based database which can be viewed and modified by the user through the standard DATA application. Who needs FORMULARY? -------------------- FORMULARY converts, calculates, evaluates and plots ALL kind of units, formulas, equations and tables and is therefore especially useful for all engineers, scientists and everyone who has to deal with repetetive calculations. The applications are unlimited. You change, adapt and extend the system to your needs and build up your very personal formulary which grows with you! Installation ------------ Run FORMULARY.SIS. Two folders will be created: \System\Apps\Formulary: all program files and language specific help files. \Documents\Formulary: example database (UNITS), a tutorial file and an Extension file (OPO and OPL). Updating -------- Please note, that all files in the installation package will overwrite files with the same name in the the same folder. This is especially important for the files "Units" and "Extension.opl" in "Documents/Formulary". If you want to save your files with your data, always rename them or copy them to a different location before installation! See Version History below for "What`s New". Online Help ----------- Standard installation of the online helpfile (Formulary.hlp) is the englisch version. If you want to use another helpfile, delete the current file "Formulary.hlp" (or better rename to "Formulary_E.hlp) and rename the desired language file back to "Formulary.hlp"! The following files with these languages are currently available: Formulary.hlp (English) Formulary_F.hlp (French) Formulary_D.hlp (German) Number Format ------------- IMPORTANT! The delivered sample file "Units" is written for calculation with decimal POINT. Please set the number format in System Setup/International/Numbers accordingly! If you want to use the decimal COMMA (german system), you have to change the content of all records of "Units" accordingly! Allready modified versions are available from http://www.physi.uni-heidelberg.de/~vwalter/my/FORMULARY/Database/ How to start ------------ The best way to learn the program, is to use it! See how the examples in the database look like and how they perform! Use the online help file! Follow the short tutorial (TUTORIAL) to get a first impression of the capabilities of the program. Extension.opo ------------- If you know how to program in OPL , you know how to extend the functionality of FORMULARY! See the (sample) source file "Extension.opl" and load the provided file "Extension.opo" for additional complex functions: ASCII:(start_char) : will plot an ascii table with the codes in hex and decimal on your screen! The parameter start_char determines the first character in the table (e.g. ASCII:(0) or ASCII:(128)) Registration ------------ This program is SHAREWARE! You have the possibility to test the program for a certain time (14 days) with certain limits in a demo mode. If you consider the program useless, simply uninstall it. If you want to continue to use the program, I ask you for a little contribution (see About..). I will send you a personal key (preferable via email) which allows you to work with the program unlimited. Please do the following: -Call "About" in the menu of the program -Open the registration dialog with "ENTER" for all needed informations. -Send me the amount shown there (in Û or equivalent), directly as a bill throuh post mail (is propably the cheapest and save enough!) or send it to my account. -Send me also your name, under which you would like to register the program and the "SerialNr" (number), which is given in the dialog. -Enter in "Owner" your name (see above) and in "Key" your personal key (delivered by me) and your program should immediately turn into a full working version. Disclaimer ---------- THE AUTHOR SHALL NOT BE HELD LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR TO YOU OR YOUR SYSTEM AS A RESULT OF USING THIS PROGRAM OR OTHERWISE! Each program can have errors (sorry)! I will try to get rid of these in future versions. Also I will try to improve and extend the functionality of the programs, as far as I can. Registration is of course also valid for these future versions. Please feel free to contact me if you found an obvious error (sometimes its really a bug, not a feature!) and to send me all your proposals for improvement. Version History --------------- 1.0 First public version for System 5. 1.1 Some bugs eliminated. Extended scaling factors added. 1.2 Some more bugs killed. 1.3 Bug in using "," for decimal delimiter removed. Clear function implemented. Help File revised. 1.4 Bug in calling text procedures removed. Three new preference modes added. Entry of Favourites improved (and simplified). Extension file for ASCII table added. French help file added. 1.41 Small bug if logging text>80 characters removed. 1.5. Pen support for plot window implemented. Two new preference modes added. Three output formats possible. 1.51 Graphic files in one multi bitmap file (Formulary.mbm). 1.6 Error Handling and User break simplified. Calling Plotfunction implemented. Bracket template "()" implemented. Bugs in date&time removed. 'Other functions' implemented. Puts now selected string inside function. 2.0 User Interface rearranged appropriately. Unit Labels in Tables and Equations supported. Result Variables F1..F8 declared. Note record constituted. Statistic mode added. Some more bugs killed. 2.01 Calling Tables, Equations and Notes from expressions. Plot dialog. Logging of plot values. Plot with number of steps. 2.02 Bug in Statistics removed. Font & Size Control for Notes. Variable Plot line width. Log File implemented. 2.03 Plot step parameter to dx changed. Pref "Log Records added. Statistics window for Revo comp. Bug in Find removed. 2.04 Bug in calculation removed. Plot Record defined. 2.05 Plot Records (Function & Data) now also supported in calculations. German Helpfile included (finally). 2.06 Severe bug in Replace: removed. Plots Datapoints with direct entry. 2.07 Minor refinements 2.08 Pen Plot implemented 2.09 Bug in Date&Time conversion removed Bug in Plotting without Dialog removed 2.10 "Same Unit" preferences now also for simple numbers Record Info in full screen dialog Favourites loadable from records 2.11 Extra Menu and Toolbarbutton for Grp-Favourites; buttons rearranged. 2.12 Dialogs for Revo to 9 lines limited 2.13 Favourites will now be appended to an entry! Direct and loadable favourites combined in one toolbar button Some bugs removed! Database for Euro refined. 2.14 Bug in Calculation "1/ 3" removed. 2.15 "Bind Number&Format" Preference implemented Searching records according to type. 2.16 Number of records for selection shown. Toolbar state remembered when restarting. Calling records with full name "Group:Name" supported. Initial values in formulas automatically from previous records. "K"=1024 as prefactor implemented. Favourite record definition redefined! 2.17 Bug in SI-record list removed. Global variables F0..9 in formulas settable.